pthread conditional variable

Question

I\'m implementing a thread with a queue of tasks. As soon as as the first task is added to the queue the thread starts running it.

Should I use pthread condition var

Answer 1

The signal will be lost, but you want the signal to be lost in that case. If there is no thread to wakeup, the signal serves no purpose. (If nobody is waiting for something, nobody needs to be notified when it happens, right?)

With condition variables, lost signals cannot cause a thread to "sleep through a fire". Unless you actually code a thread to go to sleep when there's already a fire, there is no need to "save a signal". When the fire starts, your broadcast will wake up any sleeping threads. And you would have to be pretty daft to code a thread to go to sleep when there's already a fire.